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Saturday, December 1, 2012

My review of the ODDJob tool + Giveway

I do quite a bit of tinkering around the house. Nothing major. Just a nip and tuck, here and there which may not require me lugging out the big guns aka my power tools. So I was pretty happy when I was sent a set of the Odd Job tool by Crescent for review.

It's touted as 11 tools in 1. Needless to say, I was excited about this nifty little thing because ever since MacGyver and his Swiss Army knife, I've always like multi-tasking tools. Besides, I had just the "odd job" that I could apply the tool to.

After fighting with the plastic packaging for about 2 minutes, I held this baby in my hand. It felt heavy and sturdy, which is a good thing. Not flimsy or plasticky. Definitely looked more expensive than the $19.97 price tag (as found on Amazon).

Read the rest of the review and details of the giveaway after the jump.

What I found most interesting was the flexible shaft. That was the thing that made me want to review this tool in the first place. I mean, haven't you had really tight spots where you couldn't get a straight screw driver in? Well, this seemed like the answer.

So the task was to fix a TERTIAL light onto the side of my Billy bookcase. The bookcase was against the wall and I have very little room to maneuver. Here's what I did.

First, of course, I marked where I wanted the light to be and drilled pilot holes onto the side of the Billy.

Then I removed the straight bit from the screw driver end of the Odd Job. The bit is held in place by a strong magnet.

I inserted the flexible shaft with a Philips bit at the end of the shaft.

As you can tell, I am just posing here, after the deed is done. :)

Then the action began. It took some getting used to the shaft. And because of the weight of the shaft, it does have the tendency to fall off the magnetized screw driver head, if you don't hold it tightly in place. Nevertheless I got the nuts in, until the very last few turns, when I gave up and used the bit on just the screw driver to really push the buggers in.

Like the name says, it is meant for odd jobs around the house. It won't replace my heavy duty tool kit but it does save me the hassle of having to lug the toolbox out of storage when I need to tighten a screw, hammer in a nail (or pull out one) and cut up box board. I'll probably keep it handy within my craft area for quick fixes. I'll say it's a touch up kit and may make a nice Christmas gift for the DIYer.

Get an Odd Job tool for free!

Cresent is giving away the Odd Job with the bonus flexible shaft to a lucky reader of IKEAHackers. Here's what you need to do to win it.

1. Go to the IKEAHackers Facebook page.
2. "Like" it if you have yet to do so
3. Leave a comment on the Ikeahackers-Oddjob Giveway post on the FB page.

A hammer? a plastic hammer? somehow, I am sceptical about this product.. and, to be honest, swiss army knives tend to do a lot of things badly, rather than do one thing well.... I'll stick to my toolbox...

Jules: The Odd Job arrived on my doorstep (along with the snow) this past weekend. Have not had time to really test it out, but it already invoked a bit of a spousal argument over who would retain possession, with Husband attempting to co-opt it for his office. He lost, and it is now sitting in all it's glory on my desk, waiting to be liberated from the plastic and put to good use on the bookcase Husband bought over the summer but is still sitting in a corner, unassembled and annoying the c*** out of me when ever I have to clean around it. I'll let you know how it does when I test it out.

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